Quartz Daily Brief—Iran and euro zone budgets, snooker, sleep deprivation
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Iran braces for cheaper oil. Look for reaction in the rial and oil prices after the country unveiled a draft budget for 2015 that is based on crude oil prices remaining around the current five-year lows of $70 per barrel—oil has fallen 40% since June. President Hassan Rouhani said the fall in the price of oil will put “short-term pressure” on the government’s budget.
Global economic data. The latest estimate of the scale of Japan’s third-quarter GDP contraction is released, ahead of a snap election in which Shinzo Abe will seek a new mandate to continue his economic policies. Also in Asia, China may say export growth slowed for a second month, and exports data is due from Taiwan.
Euro budgets get a once-over. Euro-zone finance ministers meet in Brussels to discuss their 2015 draft budgets. Countries such as France and Italy missed their targets for the deficit, and Germany’s Angela Merkel has pressed for more reforms in return for more time.
Remember Bernie Madoff? Four of his associates will be sentenced for helping the deceased financier steal more than $17 billion in the biggest ponzi scheme in US history. Each of the four will have separate hearings.
Obama to meet Will and Kate. Prince William and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, will meet the US president at the White House. The second-in-line to the British throne will then speak at the World Bank on global wildlife trafficking.
Over the weekend
Uruguay took in six from Guantanamo Bay. Four Syrians, one Tunisian and one Palestinian have become the first to be transferred to a South American country from the American prison camp in Cuba. The transfer leaves 137 in Guantanamo Bay—68 of them are considered low-level threats.
Bird flu spreads in Canada. A fifth poultry farm in British Columbia has been quarantined (paywall) after testing indicated the H5 strain of the deadly virus. Some 80,000 birds in the first four farms are being culled; this latest farm has 60,000 birds. The US and other nations have already banned any imports from the province.
North Korea denied a film hack. The country praised the hacking of computer systems at Sony Pictures as a “righteous deed” but denied any role in the attack. Sony has made a comedy about assassinating Kim Jong-Un. North Korea said Sony was “abetting a terrorist act” making such a film.
A raid in Yemen ended tragically. The US led a raid on a site in southern Yemen that it said killed nine al-Qaeda fighters and eight civilians but resulted in two hostages—American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie—being killed by their kidnappers.
Quartz obsession interlude
Kabir Chibber on the underdogs trying to convince Americans of the charms of snooker. “Quartz visited the National Snooker Championship, the most prestigious event in US snooker, which took place in the Top 147 Snooker Club, behind an unmarked door in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The players were dressed in the standard outfit for the sport of snooker—a shirt, waistcoat and bow tie.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Using personal data is not evil. Mark Zuckerberg hits back at Apple.
Sleep deprivation is killing your career. Here are 10 ways to improve it.
The Eiffel Tower was once considered “useless and monstrous.” Maybe history will be as kind to One World Trade Center.
Humans aren’t influenced by culture. We create it.
Surprising discoveries
Artificial intelligence is here. Meet Amelia, a better Siri.
Avoid eating while reading. One of the tips to preserve paperback books.
Paris wants to ban diesel cars by 2020. And only essential cars on the weekend.
Kim Il-sung had rice grains individually selected. Dictators eat differently from you and me.
Click here for more surprising discoveries on Quartz.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, snooker cues, and candidates for the newly-created position of Quartz dictator Bobby Ghosh’s food-taster to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.